Sandy man shot by officers had history of suicidal threats

Crime • 49-year-old had multiple run-ins with police before he was shot and killed.

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The Sandy man who was killed in an officer-involved shooting in Box Elder County late Friday night reportedly told officers that he was armed before he was shot and, in the days leading up to his death, had previous run-ins with officers in which he threatened suicide.

Pleasant View Police Chief Scott Jackson issued a statement Monday that gave a few more details about how one of his officers and a Utah Highway Patrol trooper deployed Tasers to subdue 49-year-old Cody Ramseyer, who, police say, was "acting aggressively." An officer from the Willard Police Department shot Ramseyer after the other officers stunned him. Ramseyer was later pronounced dead at McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden.

Jackson said that after Ramseyer led police on a multicounty pursuit on Interstate 15 in which he was going as fast as 100 mph, he crashed his vehicle in a patch of brush and trees that made it hard for officers to see him.

Jackson said that Ramseyer refused to leave the car at first when officers told him to. When he did, he indicated that he had a gun and was going to kill the officers. Ramseyer also told the officers to kill him, according to Jackson.

Ramseyer then began to move toward the officers in an "aggressive and non-compliant manner" and refused to stop and show his hands, Jackson wrote. As Ramseyer moved toward them, a UHP trooper deployed a Taser to stop him, but Ramseyer continued. Then one of Jackson's Pleasant View officers used a Taser on Ramseyer. The two Taser deployments were unsuccessful in getting him to stop, so the Willard officer shot Ramseyer, according to Jackson.

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Jackson said in an interview Monday that the Department of Public Safety was heading up the investigation, but that so far, "there hasn't been a gun located," as Ramseyer allegedly indicated.

Ramseyer was the father to 10 children and owned a drywall and masonry business. Although he had no recent criminal history, a friend of his indicated on Sunday that he was "dealing with some issues."

According to call logs from the Sandy Police Department, police visited Ramseyer's home on March 3 after his wife called reporting that he had been acting suicidal and that she didn't know where he was.

The call logs also indicate that she was worried that Ramseyer might be armed and "may be on amphetamines."

Various logs from Sandy police indicated that Ramseyer was a known user of methamphetamine and that he would sometimes call police with false reports based on "hallucinations."

Based on that information, Sandy police sent out an alert that described Ramseyer as "armed and dangerous" and "suicidal." The alert went on to state that he was "possibly armed" with a silver handgun and that he had threatened to kill officers in the past.

The next day, Ramseyer's wife reported that she had found her husband and that "he is doing OK."

Police responded to Ramseyer's home again on March 13 after a neighbor reported that one of Ramseyer's children called to say that her father was suicidal and that he had a gun. The daughter reported that Ramseyer's head was bleeding from hitting himself in the head with the weapon because he didn't have any bullets. Police later transported him to the hospital.

On March 25, four days before he was shot, Ramseyer was again reported missing by his wife after he reportedly left a note to his family and didn't come back from an errand. Police later located Ramseyer driving a red Yukon and made contact with him. He later returned home, the call logs indicate.

Finally, on March 27, a friend of Ramseyer's called police, saying that Ramseyer's wife had again reported that he was suicidal and was also threatening her. The friend told police that his wife had taken Ramseyer's gun away from him after a previous episode and was keeping it in a safe at her house.

Ramseyer's wife later called police to report that "everything is OK." The logs also state that Ramseyer spoke with police and said he was not suicidal "and he was just saying things to get his wife's attention."

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